


For Everything There Is A Season

by mydeira



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Smith (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-26
Updated: 2012-09-26
Packaged: 2017-11-15 02:29:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/522165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydeira/pseuds/mydeira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor pays Sarah Jane a visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Everything There Is A Season

“I don’t like it, SJ. Things have been quiet for too long now.”

Sarah Jane just laughed and shook her head. “Oh, Josh, and here you used to say I was paranoid. I think I may have been a bad influence on you.” Pausing to sip her tea, she went on, “Who knows, maybe the Order finally decided I wasn’t worth the trouble. When you try and kill a girl a half dozen times and she manages to get out alive every time, well, you might just decide there are better things to do.”

That didn’t sit well with him at all. Josh frowned. “You weren’t this flip until you went poking about at that school a few months back.”

“I was able to reevaluate things a bit. Decided there were more important things to worry about in life than whether or not the Order still has it out for me. If they do, I’ll deal with it. If not, well, I’ll find trouble elsewhere. Or,” she grinned, “it’ll find me.”

“Well, I’m not as convinced as you are.” He finished off his decaf, stood and fished a few pound notes.

She grabbed his hand as he moved to set the notes down. “Today’s on me, remember?”

“You say that every time.” He smiled. “Let me be a gentleman just once, alright, SJ.?”

“You watch my back, Josh, that’s more than enough in my book. And don’t call me SJ,” she added. In all truth, she didn’t mind Josh calling her SJ, was rather fond of it actually. But she’d never tell him that.

“Let me pay, and I’ll consider it.”

“Nice try.” She swatted him away. “Get going, Josh. I’ll see you and Nat at brunch Sunday.”

“Stubborn,” he said with a hint of affection, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek. “Until Sunday, SJ.”

Sarah Jane watched him leave the café, smiling contentedly to herself. She really was quite fortunate to have him in her life, and Nat, and now K-9 again. Until running into the Doctor at Deffrey Vale, she hadn’t truly appreciated them or the life she’d managed to make for herself. But when the Doctor had asked her to join him and Rose, she’d realized just what she would be leaving behind. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Perhaps if she were a few years younger...

“I seem to recall being threatened with severe bodily harm if I ever dared to call you SJ.”

Sarah Jane’s heart stopped. No, it couldn’t be.

A moment later, the Doctor sat down across from her, still wearing the same face from when they’d run into each other at the school. His hair was even more unruly than she remembered, though not as bad as the mop of curly hair he once had. She still had to fight down the urge to reach out and try to put it into order.

“Doctor. I didn’t think— What are you doing here?” she inquired, feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Nothing for thirty years, and now twice in a few short months?

“Can’t I pop in and chat with an old friend?” he replied cheerily, brown eyes dancing. She really liked his eyes this regeneration. Not that she hadn’t liked them before, but this time...

Sarah Jane forced herself to focus. “You don’t just pop in.”

“No, I don’t,” he admitted soberly. “But I thought I’d give it a try. You don’t mind, do you?” There was a note of vulnerability in his voice that couldn’t be denied.

“Of course I don’t mind, Doctor. I just...” Oh hell, why not be honest with him. “I just wish you’d have taken up the habit a lot sooner.”

“I’m sorry, Sarah Jane.” And he meant it, too. Just as he had the last time they’d seen each other. But for some reason, it meant more this time.

“Water under the bridge,” she replied finally, trying to lighten the mood.

His lips twitched as he ran a hand through his hair. “So.” It was a long, drawn out sound. “Who’s the strapping young lad that’s completely besotted with you?”

Sarah Jane choked on her tea. “Besotted? Josh? Hardly.”

One of the Doctor’s eyebrows arched up.

“What?”

“I could make certain comments about youthful assistants and their over-protectiveness, but at nine hundred and some years old I’ve outgrown such pettiness,” he teased.

She should have known he’d find a way to get back at her for that comment on Rose. But only nine hundred and some years old? That didn’t seem right. He was almost seven hundred fifty when they’d traveled together. “Doctor, you’re rather jeopardy friendly and all, but six regenerations in two hundred years? I know you’re not that careless.”

“It’s a rough universe out there, I very well could have,” he protested. “Are you accusing me of lying about my age?”

“You, lie about your age, Doctor? Never.” She couldn’t even keep a straight face.

“Alright, then, Miss Sarah Jane Smith, investigative journalist, how old are you?”

Sarah Jane had no qualms about her age. “I just turned fifty-eight.”

He blinked. “No, you’re not. You can’t be.” His eyes narrowed, studying her. Then he grinned. “I know your game. You’re trying to make me think you’re older than you are so I’ll tell you the truth about my age. Not that I am lying,” he added hastily.

“Well, I most certainly am not lying. I said I’d gotten old, Doctor.”

“No, you can’t be a day over forty-five.”

She felt her cheeks warm at the compliment. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” she teased.

“Will it really?” he said as if giving it serious thought. “And by everywhere, you do mean everywhere?”

What was the harm? She dropped her voice before replying, “Yes, Doctor, everywhere.”

It was with no small amount of pleasure that she noted the difficulty he seemed to have swallowing. She always had enjoyed being able to one-up him.

“Careful, Sarah,” he warned.

“What?” she said innocently. “Where’s the harm in flirting with an old friend?” Before he could say anything, she added lightly, “Are you afraid you can no longer resist my charms, Doctor?”

“And if I couldn’t?”

There was something in his tone that caught her attention. His tone was teasing. Mostly. But underneath it all, it almost seemed like he wasn’t completely joking. That thought made Sarah Jane’s stomach flutter pleasantly. Oh, no, no, no, no. She wasn’t going to go down that road again, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the Doctor wasn’t so alien after all and that perhaps . . . No. Friends they were and friends they would always be. Beyond that, well, she couldn’t be faulted for the occasional dream. Especially since seeing him again. It really wasn’t fair that he got better looking every time he regenerated. Not to mention younger.

“Sarah, you alright?”

She felt like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “Of course. Just thinking how good it is to see you again.”

“Is it?” There was a note of disbelief in the question.

“Yes, Doctor, it really is.”

“Good. That’s great.” He grinned a bright, toothy grin. After moment, he said, “You never did tell me what you thought. Of the regeneration.”

“Fishing for compliments, Doctor? You must be getting old.”

“Cheeky.”

She liked cheeky. It had been awhile since anyone had called her cheeky. Nosey, definitely. In spades. “What’s it matter what I think?”

“I want to know.”

Sarah Jane took a moment to study him. The ruffled hair, brown eyes that had seen too much and somehow not enough at the same time, the smattering of freckles—oh, she did like those. But it made him look so achingly young. “I like it all very much. Except, well . . .” She couldn’t resist teasing him. “The hair.”

His eyes went wide, hands immediately going to his head, fingers running through the strands. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing, just you always seem to have so much of it and it takes on a mind of its own.”

He looked wounded. “I’ve been told it’s rather foxy. Actually, that the whole package was foxy. But seeing as I was possessed at the time, it would have technically been a compliment from myself, so—”

“I’m not saying it’s bad,” she cut him off with a laugh. “Just that it always has had its own way about it.”

“Ah, then you should have seen the last body. Hardly any hair at all. Though I think the ears made up for it. Hm, I wonder if I was overcompensating?”

She focused on her tea as she murmured, “Somehow I doubt you need to overcompensate for anything.”

“That’s true. I’ve always been more than adequate where it matters.” There was more than a touch of innuendo to the statement.

Two could play at that game. “I’ll just have to take your word on that, won’t I?’

“You’ve accused me of lying about my age, you don’t think I’d lie about other things as well?”

“So you admit you are lying about that.”

“No,” he said with a grin. “I said you’ve accused me of lying about my age. There’s a difference. It’s just logical to take things a step further and assume that if I’d lie about one thing for vanity’s sake, I’d naturally lie about others.”

“Would you?” she pressed.

“I might,” he flashed his teeth. “But if you want to just take my word for it, you’ll never know the truth, will you?”

Oh, there would have been trouble if he’d been like this when they’d traveled together. She wouldn’t have been able to keep from trying to cross a few lines he’d very clearly drawn.

“And if I decided I didn’t want to take your word for it?” she said coyly. “What then?”

He leaned back in his chair, hands linked casually behind his head. “What then? Well, Sarah, I’d just have to prove to you once again that I don’t lie about things that matter.”

“You did that time on Firenzi Delta,”

The Doctor’s eyebrows drew together. “Firenzi Delta? Firenzi Del—ah! Now I remember. I don’t lie about the things that matter when our lives aren’t at stake.”

“Our lives weren’t at stake that time,” she corrected him, proud that she managed to keep her face schooled and serious through this whole exchange.

“Of course they were! Step out side the TARDIS and risk almost certain death every time. I definitely lied to keep us from dying.”

Sarah Jane shook her head. This was too much fun. “No, Doctor, Firenzi Delta was one of the few places we never actual had to fear for our lives.”

She could tell when he finally figured it out, a slow look of horror dawning across his face. “That was when the Empress Lylani wanted me for her consort, wasn’t it?”

“Charming young...lady, if I remember,” Sarah recalled.

“Charming to you, maybe.” Then his eyes fixed piercingly. “And you, Sarah Jane, enjoyed the whole thing immeasurably.”

“It was amusing.”

“If I didn’t know better, I would think that you had encouraged her.”

She beamed at him. “Just maybe I did, Doctor. It was a nice change of pace for me not to be the object of affection or sacrifice or hypnotism for a change.” Then she added, “And it’s very possible Empress Lylani was doing me a favor.”

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline as the Doctor sat forward, leaning across the table. “Are you telling me, Sarah Jane Smith, that you set me up?”

She leaned forward so there was maybe only an inch or two between them. “I very well did, Doctor.”

“Well, that settles it, then.” He stood suddenly, then held out his hand.

“Doctor?” She really had no idea what was going on.

His voice was low when he spoke. “I think it’s time you showed me where you live, Sarah Jane.”

He was just paying her back. That was all. Having a bit of fun at her expense. Well, she’d play along and see just how far he was willing to carry his bluff.

“Yes, Doctor, I think it is.” She tossed a handful of pound notes on the table and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. “Shall we?”

***

K-9 greeted them at the door. “Mistress, everything is as you left it,” he reported.

“Well, done, K-9.” She patted him affectionately.

“You have brought Master with you.” His gears whirred for a moment as his attention shifted to the Doctor. “You said I was not to see you again, Master.”

“Things change, old friend,” the Doctor said, hunching down to scratch K-9 behind his metallic ears. “Been keeping Mistress out of trouble, I hope?”

“I try, Master. She does not always listen.”

The Doctor grinned up at her. “That’s my Sarah Jane.”

Sarah Jane felt her heart speed up at that. The way he said it and the look in those soft, brown eyes, she could almost believe that perhaps... A bit of flirtation between old friends, nothing more. She swallowed hard. “Are we going to stand in the door all day, or would you care to see the rest of the place?”

The Doctor stood with a laugh. “Lead on, Sarah.”

And she did, after instructing K-9 to keep watch at the door, just to make certain he’d stay out from underfoot. She showed the Doctor around the home she had purchased upon returning from Deffrey Vale. Nat and Josh had been stunned, to say the least, when she announced she was buying the little cottage. Before, she had always maintained short leases, especially in recent years, to keep ahead of those who had been after her. But she was done with running. People always seemed to find her regardless. Besides, it was time for her to put down some roots, even if she was away from the cottage more than she was in it. At least she knew there was a place she could call home. She hadn’t had that since, well, since she’d traveled with the Doctor. The TARDIS had been the only place she’d ever felt like she belonged, really belonged. Aunt Lavinia’s was a good place to stay and visit, but it was always Aunt Lavinia’s.

“You haven’t been here long, have you?” the Doctor observed as he poked through a collection of knickknacks from her travels.

“What makes you say that?” she asked, peeking over his shoulder.

“Hardly any dust.”

“So?”

“If I know anything , Sarah, it’s that you have better things to do than dust. So,” he turned to face her with a cheeky grin, “you haven’t been here long.”

It was true. Her housekeeping skills were, well, nonexistent, aside from keeping up on dishes and laundry. The other stuff didn’t matter much.

“You’re right. About the only time things ever get dusted is when Josh house-sits.”

“He does housework? This Josh really does like you.”

“Jealous?” she called over her shoulder as she headed to the kitchen to put on some tea.

“Yes,” was the simple reply. The lack of levity caused Sarah to stop and face him.

“You’re jealous of Josh?” she asked, walking back to where the Doctor stood.

His hands were in his pockets. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because he’s Josh,” she protested.

He didn’t quite meet her eyes when he said, “Was always jealous of Harry, too.”

“Harry Sullivan? You were jealous of Harry?” She could help but laugh. “Oh, Doctor, for all your genius you really don’t have a clue, do you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Confusion was a good look on him in this regeneration.

“It means that Harry was a lot more interested in you than he ever was in me.”

“Harry?” Up went the eyebrows. “No. Really?”

“As I live and breathe.”

“Well, that explains a few things. Still, it never crossed my mind. Huh.” He seemed to get lost in thought. “What’s old Harry up to these days?”

“No one knows,” she replied, feeling the familiar ache at the admission. “He went missing a few years back and there hasn’t been a trace of him since. I still half expect him to show up one day like nothing ever happened.”

“It’s always possible,” the Doctor mused.

They lapsed into a heavy silence then. Unable to bear it anymore, Sarah turned to head back to the kitchen to put on the tea like she’d intended a few minutes ago. She didn’t get far as a hand lightly caught her wrist.

“I don’t feel like tea right now, Sarah,” he said softly.

It was on the tip of her tongue to say she very much did, even if it was a lie, until she caught sight of his face. He looked so sad and lost at the moment, she gave into impulse and gently reached up to cradle his cheek.

“What’s happened to you, Doctor?”

“I’m starting to get careless, Sarah. And I don’t like it.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “Once you see and become your worst nightmare, it does something to you. It makes you feel invincible, and that’s a very dangerous thing to feel.”

“Because when nothing can stop you, you can do anything.”

He just nodded.

“Why did you come to see me?” she asked, her thumb lightly tracing over his cheekbone. How could he seem so fragile and powerful at the same time?

The hand that still held her wrist moved down to link with her hand. “You ground me, Sarah. You’re the voice of reason I haven’t heard for a very, very long time.”

“What about Rose?” The girl was young, but she really did seem to know what she was about.

“Rose was better before I regenerated,” he admitted. He lost himself for a moment as he ran his thumb along the back of her hand. Sarah Jane was finding it difficult not to surrender to the sensation. Now really wasn’t the time to get distracted. “She used to question everything and now, well, about all she bothers to point out is when I’m being rude.”

“That’s only natural, Doctor, you’ve traveled with enough of us to know we grow used to things after awhile.”

“You never just accepted things.”

“I was a journalist for a number of years before I met you. That’s not something one ever gets over. Questioning is like breathing for me.”

His lips curled in a slow, sad smile. “Too right.” After a moment he said, “You were the one who spoke up when Finch was pitching godhood to me.”

It was something she had suspected but quickly dismissed at the time. Now the realization settled like a lead weight in the pit of her stomach. “You were seriously considering it, weren’t you?”

His silence was the only reply she needed.

“Doctor, no.”

He didn’t look at her. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I told you I was getting careless.”

She moved her hand from his cheek to his chin, nudging it up, forcing him to look at her. “I can’t believe that. You care too much to do anything that foolish.”

“Do I?” There was so much pain in his eyes, it was difficult to keep from looking away from them. “I destroyed my planet and wiped out my people to destroy the Daleks. But they survived. And even though Rose turned the survivors to dust, I have a feeling there’s still more out there. I became a monster to destroy my enemy, but what happens when we both survive? I think maybe careless is too light a term.”

She couldn’t bear to hear him talking like this about himself. And he was going to go on. She could see that he was only pausing for breath. So, she did the only thing she could think of to shut him up. She kissed him.

His lips were still and soft beneath hers. So soft. She was just starting to pull away when he responded, mouth growing pliant and mobile, enticing her inside. It was unlike any kiss she’d had before. Maybe it was all the years of wanting and waiting, imagining what it would be like and knowing it would never happen. Maybe it was because it had been so damn long since the last time she had kissed anyone because she wanted to and not, say, to keep from blowing her cover. Or maybe it was due to the fact this was the Doctor and things with him were always unlike with anyone else.

The need for air forced her to break the kiss. Sarah Jane stared up at the Doctor, a bit breathless. “I didn’t know how else to shut you up,” she said by way of explanation.

He grinned that bright, slightly mad grin that seemed to carry through all his regenerations. “That was certainly the most enjoyable way to go about it.”

“I—I still shouldn’t have done that,” Sarah apologized, attempting to step away. There were just some places one didn’t go with the Doctor, regardless of how much teasing or flirting you did with him. She was surprised when he held her firmly in place.

“Why not?” he asked in that curious yet knowing way he had.

“Because.” Up went the eyebrow again. “Because you don’t do this. We don’t do this.”

“Didn’t,” he corrected. “It was always hard enough saying goodbye when things weren’t more complicated.”

“Which is why you never say goodbye.” She tried very hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She’d dealt with that and moved on, gotten her goodbye, albeit thirty years after the fact. 

“Exactly.”

“What’s changed, then, Doctor? We’ve said goodbye and I’m no longer your companion? I don’t understand.”

His face and demeanor grew very serious. “What’s changed is that when I saw you again, it was like no time had passed at all. And believe me, it had been more than a few decades for me since I left you. Oh, Sarah,” he sighed, “I wish I could make things up to you.”

“You don’t have to. Especially if that’s why you’re here.”

“That’s not why I’m here.” His voice had dropped very low, so low she could feel the vibrations from it. “I’m here because this is something I have wanted for a very long time. I’ve wanted you, my Sarah Jane, for a very, very, very long time.”

Before she could reply, he captured her mouth with his, pulling her tight against his lithe frame as he expertly claimed her mouth, tongue dancing dexterously around her own as he took complete and utter control. Until that moment, she had never held much faith with the idea that a kiss could leave you weak-kneed. Breathless made sense. Weak-kneed was just ridiculous. But as Sarah found herself relying more on the Doctor’s arms around her for support, she realized that she’d just never been kissed by anyone who really knew how before.

“Bedroom?” he murmured against her ear as he hoisted her into his arms.

“Last door at the end of the hallway,” she replied, then took possession of his mouth before any sense of reason could reassert itself.

They made it to her room with little incident, except for when he set her down on her own feet again without warning. There was a brief heartbeat where she had to remember how to stand. Gradually, the Doctor withdrew from the kiss. His brown eyes were so dark when he looked down at her.

“Let me undress you, Sarah,” he breathed.

That gave her pause. She had never been ashamed of her body, even as she aged and began to soften and sag. But now . . . it made this all too real, somehow.

“Please.”

The one word, so quiet and reverent cut through her reservations. When she nodded her assent, his face lit up like she had just given him the greatest gift in the universe.

He took a few steps back, first slipping off his trench coat, then deftly unbuttoning his suit coat and removing that as well. His tie went next. Rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt, he closed the distance between them.

His fingers were cool against her neck as they slid down beneath the collar of her leather jacket, gliding along her shoulders as he slowly pushed it off of her. He caught it before it could fall unheeded to the ground and tossed it without looking to land atop his coats on the chair. Sarah shivered at the slight chill in the air and from no small amount of nerves.

“Relax, Sarah,” he soothed, placing a quick kiss on her lips before circling around to stand behind her.

As his fingers caught the hem of her jumper, she realized that not having to looking at him during this made things considerably easier to go along with, especially without the constant reminder of how achingly young he looked.

She lifted her arms to help him along and said, “I really don’t think it’s fair that the older you get, the younger you look.”

The Doctor chuckled behind her, tugging the jumper over her head. “It has its disadvantages. Beings on any planet are less likely to take you seriously when you claim to be over nine hundred and look, well, I don’t know . . .how old do I look?”

“Maybe thirty-five, at the utmost.” She gasped as his hands settled on the now bare skin of her shoulders.

“At the utmost.” She could hear the smile in his voice. Slim fingers worked their way beneath her bra straps, following the curve of her shoulders down along her back to settle at the back clasp. Unhooking the fastening, he slowly eased the garment down her arms and tossed it to the side. His hands then came to rest at her waist, thumbs dipping below the waistline. Using his grip, he eased her back until her back was resting flush against his chest, the cotton of his shirt surprisingly soft against her bare and increasingly sensitive skin. Finally the Doctor spoke, his tone casual but his touch anything but. “But looking so young does have one great advantage. Do you know what that is, Sarah?”

“It’s possible that—” her reply ended abruptly as the button on the front of her trousers gave way and the Doctor’s right hand grasped the zipper pull, but didn’t go any further.

“You were saying, Sarah?” She’d always hated how calm and normal he could sound in any situation. If not for the insistent press of his undeniable interest against her backside, it would be very easy to believe he was completely unaffected by things. “Sarah,” he sing-songed against her ear, “I’m not doing anything else until you answer my question.”

“It wasn’t rhetorical?” she managed finally, trying to get back some of her own. She might very nearly be putty in his hands at the moment, but she had some pride to maintain.

The zipper inched down and then back up again. The bastard was teasing her.

“I can wait a very long time,” he warned.

There were times she really hated the Doctor.

“I suppose that . . .” God, if his hands were anywhere else, it wouldn’t be so difficult to think at the moment. Close enough to tease and promise but too far away to do any good. “I suppose that looking younger than you really are means that people, aliens, are more likely to underestimate you.”

“Right in one,” he said proudly, finally drawing her zipper down.

As her trousers pooled to the floor, Sarah Jane felt a sense of relief she hadn’t expected. She kicked her shoes and slacks off to the side, leaving nothing between her and nakedness now except for a pair of simple navy knickers. When the Doctor turned her to face him, she realized she was no longer nervous about him seeing her naked; she was too keyed up to care. Knowing him, that had been his intent all along.

“Beautiful,” he stated, eyes trailing over her.

“I told you flattery would get you everywhere, Doctor, but there’s really no need—”

He pulled her close and dipped his head down until they were nearly nose to nose. “Sarah, I’ve been through a considerable amount of space and time. When I say something’s beautiful, it really does mean I think something is beautiful.”

His words touched something very deep inside of her, eliciting a very pleasant sort of ache.

The kiss he gave her then was tender and sweet.

When he pulled back, his dark eyes were dancing in merriment. “Now then, Sarah Jane Smith, do you know what the best part of being very old in a very young body is?”

She squeaked as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bed. She managed to shake her head.

He brought his lips close to her ear and whispered. “Experience and the stamina to use it fully.”

Oh. God. He was trying to kill her, wasn’t he?

He kissed her again as he set her down on the bed, joining her shortly after.

Propping himself up over her, he peered down. “While still not ginger this go round, I’ve discovered something in this regeneration that more than makes up for it.”

“Oh, and what’s that, Doctor?” She smiled, reaching up to trace the smattering of freckles along his left cheekbone. “I like these, by the way,” she said softly.

“I’m rather fond of them myself. Though you’d think ginger would be part of the package.”

“Can’t have it all, I suspect.”

“There’s really no one to blame but myself. If I’d only paid closer attention at the academy, things wouldn’t be so up in the air when I regenerated” he said with a put upon sigh. “But my regeneration instructor was the dullest fellow you ever met. Never could stay awake through more than the first few minutes of class. I think he’s the reason I hardly ever need to sleep. Got enough sleep for several lifetimes at the academy.”

Sarah Jane couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?”

“You would get chatty now, wouldn’t you?” She smirked.

“Chatty? You haven’t seen chatty yet, Sarah Jane. This go round it’s very difficult to get me to shut up.”

“Just this go round?” 

His wide eyes narrowed as he tried to look upset at the comment.

“Admit it, Doctor, you’ve always liked to hear yourself talk,” she pointed out, letting her thumb wander down to trace along his lips. His tongue darted out to tease along the pad, the contact sending a shiver of pleasure washing over her. When her thumb disappeared into the moist interior, the tongue did more than tease. The tip seemed to navigate around every ridge and whirl, as if the Doctor were trying to memorize every detail. It certainly wasn’t the most sensitive part of her body, but by the time he released her, Sarah couldn’t help but whimper at the loss. It had been awhile, but not that long for something so simple to get her close.

“I’m only just getting started, Sarah,” he promised.

And, as was often the case, the Doctor was better than his word.

Placing a quick kiss on her lips, he began a slow, torturous descent. Lips, tongue and every so often a bit of teeth marked the wandering path he took to seemingly map out every centimeter of skin. The cotton of his shirt rasped over her breasts as he moved down, the friction building up sensitivity to the point that when his tongue teased over first one nipple and then the other, she was quite certain that he was trying to kill her. Or possibly drive her mad. It wasn’t possible to endure this constant build up and anticipation with no hope of immediate release and retain her sanity.

“Oh, god,” she cried out as his teeth clamped down on the nipple his tongue had been worrying beyond distraction.

His laughter echoed against her skin. “Actually, I’m quite content with ‘Doctor’.” He lifted his head to grin cheekily up at her.

“It’s possible I wasn’t talking to you,” she countered.

“That would have a bit more weight if you left the ‘possible’ off,” the Doctor stated. The fingers of his left hand began to tease across her hip and up along her side. That combined with his breath puffing lightly over the skin he had been worrying made it very difficult for her to concentrate on what he was saying. And he kept right on talking. “Gives the argument more force. You should always take a definitive stand when you’re making a point.”

He was trying to get a rise out of her, in more ways that one. It worked. “I’ll have you know that—oh!” Higher thought momentarily shorted out as the Doctor’s mouth and wandering hand latched onto either breast, two very different sensations that alone would have been distracting enough. Together, they were deadly.

“You’ll have me know that what?” he prompted as he finally decided to move on, shifting his attention to her stomach.

“What?” she floundered. He was at her navel now, tongue circling around, dipping in and out.

“What you were about to say. Sounded like a very good rebuttal until you were so rudely interrupted.”

She hadn’t the foggiest idea what she had been about to say. “Must not have been important.” She was absolutely convinced of that fact at the moment because nothing seemed more important than for the Doctor to keep moving. And he did, hooking his fingers in the sides of her knickers and slowly drawing them down and away, leaving her completely naked before him.

“Sarah Jane Smith.” The pride in his words caught her attention and Sarah realized the Doctor was settled comfortably between her legs, gazing up at her. “You are amazing.”

She barely registered the words as his head descended. His tongue led, delving into her sex with pinpoint accuracy. A thousand different fantasies and not a single one compared to the reality. He seemed to somehow know every spot that made her body quiver and shake, straining toward release. Her hands tangled in the Doctor’s hair, holding him in place, trying to hold herself together. And when it felt like she couldn’t take any more, that now, now she was going to come, the Doctor would ease off a bit and then proceed to build her back even higher.

“Doctor, please,” she managed to gasp.

That was all it took. A moment later, the Doctor sent her crashing over in a mind-shattering climax.

It took awhile, but finally some sense of coherency returned to Sarah Jane. She blinked open her eyes to find the Doctor laying beside her, head propped up on his right hand as his fathomless brown eyes regarded her.

“Thought I might have lost you there for a minute.” The wide, toothy grin told her that this fact pleased him immensely. He had every right to be pleased.

“That was . . .” she considered tempering her response so as not to build up the Doctor’s ego too much, but he’d never really needed praise for that. He always knew when he’d done something very, very well. She reached up and ran a hand lightly through his wild hair. It was so soft. “That was without compare.”

“Yeah?” He beamed. “I’m a bit out of practice, so I wasn’t sure.”

Sarah Jane couldn’t help the undignified snort that escaped at that. “Not sure? You? Right.”

“Well,” he drawled, “I suppose you’re right. But I am out of practice.”

Her arousal flickered back to life at the thought of just what he was capable of when he was in practice. Dear lord, she’d probably be dead.

She smiled up at him and couldn’t resist having a bit of fun at his expense. “Now that you mention it, Doctor, there are perhaps a few things that could use some work.”

“Oh, really? Such as...”

He was still mostly dressed, she noted. 

“Such as this,” she said, tugging on his shirt.

“You don’t like it?”

“I like it just fine. However, the fact that you are still mostly dressed and I am not could be considered rude in some circles.”

“Ah, I see. Though, I should let you know that I have the tendency to be rather rude this regeneration. But,” he lifted up his left leg and wiggled his toes, “I did remember to remove my shoes before getting on the bed. Very much not rude, that.”

“True. I suppose I should give credit where credit is due,” she replied. Sitting up, she pushed him onto his back and went to work on the buttons of his shirt. “Not only is it rude to remain dressed, but highly unfair.”

“Is it?” He moved his hands behind his head, laying there at ease while she went about undressing him. “It could be that I’m insecure about my appearance.”

“I doubt that,” she murmured, studying the pale expanse of his chest that she had revealed, the smoothness only interrupted by a fine spread of dark hair. Very nice.

“I said I could be, not that I was.” He sat up, the shirt falling open. “Though I’m not as fond of my mole as I was at first.”

“Mole?”

He nodded. “Lovely mole. Just can’t ever see it without a mirror and a bit of skillful acrobatics. And even my talent has limits. Actually, if you’d like to check it out for me, give me an unbiased opin—”

She kissed him. Mainly because he was too adorable not to, but also because if she didn’t, he would likely keep on about his bloody mole and very likely the history of moles in various cultures. And while she loved hearing the Doctor talk, she wasn’t much in the mood for endless chatter at the moment.

She worked his shirt off as she deepened the kiss. Fortunately, the Doctor obliged her by slipping it the rest of the way off and tossing it aside when she got it as far as she could without assistance. Then he was in motion, pressing her back onto the bed and moving over her, taking control of the kiss in the process. But she couldn’t be distracted completely, hands blindly seeking out and finding the fastening on his trousers. She had just managed to get the top undone and was moving to the zip when the Doctor broke the kiss.

“That was very rude just now, Sarah Jane, cutting me off like that,” he chastised.

“Hm, I suppose it was,” she murmured, drawing down his zipper. “But I’m not sorry in the least bit.”

“As well you shouldn’t be,” he grinned, kissing her again as she shoved his trousers past his hips and encountering nothing underneath but smooth, soft skin. No knickers. Somehow, she’d always suspected as much, though maybe that was only true for this body. A quick glance downward told her that Harry Sullivan, if he ever turned up, did indeed owe her twenty quid. Two hearts aside, the rest of the Doctor’s anatomy was very much human.

“Very nice,” she stated when the Doctor drew away to kick his trousers the rest of the way off.

The Doctor glanced down, giving his prick careful study as well. “You think so? Actually, I much prefer the one I had in my fifth regeneration. Good length and fairly substantial girth.”

In Sarah Jane’s opinion, his current cock was better than good and fairly substantial. Far from record breaking, but just about right in her book.

“Sadly, I paid for it in my sixth regeneration. I think a good part of my grumpiness was due to that fact.” He frowned in thought. “The timing was doubly poor as that’s when my mid-life crisis hit as well. Probably explains the horrendous dress sense I had, too. Overcompensating and all that.”

Sarah Jane giggled when she realized he was serious.

“Do you find my pain amusing, Sarah?” he accused.

“Not amusing,” she said, stroking her fingers through his hair soothingly. “Well, alright, I do find it amusing. Mainly because you’re you, Doctor.”

“You thought I was above such concerns?” The eyebrows went up and his eyes grew wide as if he could better read her that way.

“Yes, actually.” She smirked. “And before you ask, you pretty much stated as much on quite a few occasions.”

“Did I?” he considered it. “Yeah, I suppose I did. And you believed me?”

“Not entirely.”

“I wonder what other misconceptions I’m going to have to cure you of,” he wondered.

He’d most certainly cured her of one already. Her body warmed at the memory. She could think of a few more he could clear up at the moment, but only if he’d stop nattering on. “Doctor,” she fairly purred. Oh, it had been too long since she’d been able to use that voice. “You know the old Earth saying, ‘Actions speak louder than words’?”

He nodded.

“Trust me, there’s not better way to clear up any outstanding confusion on the matter,” she said pointedly.

His face split into a wide grin. “Are you telling me to shag you senseless, Sarah?”

“Yes, Doctor, I am.”

“Fantastic.” He kissed her then, hard and hungry, leaving no doubt that despite his ability to carry on seemingly casual conversation, he was quite eager to be getting on with things as well.

As her hand wrapped around the Doctor’s cock to guide him to her entrance, a very tiny part of her still couldn’t believe this was real. But when he thrust inside, solid and undeniably there, Sarah knew that no dream had ever felt like this.

When he was fully sheathed, the Doctor went very still, eyes closed as if he were trying to focus on something.

“Doctor, are you alright?” she asked with concern.

His brown eyes were so sad when they opened. “Oh, my Sarah Jane, I was such a fool when we traveled together.”

“We were both young then, Doctor. So very young,” she consoled him.

He bowed his head, breaking contact as he finally started to move, a slow gradual withdrawal and steady return. It allowed her to feel every subtle change as her body stretched and contracted around him. Maybe it was how much time had passed or because it was the Doctor or just because, but Sarah Jane couldn’t recall having been so aware during sex before, so tuned into the little things. The really little things. Like how every so often the Doctor seemed to blink in time with her heart rate. Or how quiet everything was around them. The feel of the Doctor’s breath, so unsteady against her neck as he lost himself in the act. How every time he hit that one spot everything seemed to stop, complete, perfect stillness.

Once again, every time she felt close, he seemed to sense it and back off, stretching this encounter out as long as was possible. But even he wasn’t capable of drawing it out forever. She could feel that he was close as he clung tighter to her, movements becoming more erratic. He very nearly came at one point but managed to hold off.

“Let go, Doctor,” she murmured in encouragement, wrapping her limbs tight around him. “It’s alright to let go, Doctor. Please.”

“Too good,” he said brokenly.

Catching his face in her hands, she kissed him. “Come for me, Doctor.”

And he did, shuddering violently in her embrace and dragging her over the edge with him.

***

Sarah Jane smiled contentedly as the double beat of the Doctor’s hearts fluttered against her cheek. There was no place in the universe she’d rather be.

“So why did we never do that before?” he asked, toying with a few strands of her hair.

She laughed and craned her neck to look up at him. “You probably had some daft notion that I wouldn’t respect you in the morning or some such nonsense.”

“Seeing as you questioned me at every turn, I really don’t think I had your respect to lose in the first place,” he said cheekily.

“Good point.”

“Hey, now.” He tugged her up so she was eye level with him.

She kissed him lightly on the lips. “You walked right into that one, Doctor.”

“I suppose I did,” he sighed. Then, he grinned. “I feel great, you know that?”

“Amazing what a good shag can do.”

“Only good?”

She swatted him playfully. “Watch it.”

He caught her hand, linking their fingers together. “Ooh, a violent streak. I like it.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

“That, my dear Doctor, is nothing,” she said seductively.

“You’re kinky, aren’t you?” He sounded absolutely delighted by the fact.

“I’ve always liked to mix things up a bit,” she admitted.

“Such as . . .”

“Oh, this and that.” Sarah Jane felt her cheeks flame.

“Come on, Sarah Jane,” he wheedled. “Tell me your favorite kink.”

“What’s yours?” she asked.

“I have to show you mine before you’ll show me yours, eh? Is that it?”

“Telling is perfectly acceptable.”

“Oh no, me, I’m a big fan of the show.”

“If you mean showing off, you’d be right.” After a moment, she prompted, “Well, show me.”

And he did, tugging their joined hands up and exposing her wrist. Keeping his eyes on her the entire time, he ran his tongue from the crook of her elbow to her wrist, swirling it over her pulse point. Sarah shivered at the contact, too sensitive nerves relishing the contact. The Doctor closed his eyes as if savoring.

“Mm, salt, a hint of lavender and Sarah Jane Smith.” He opened his eyes and beamed at her. “That is my consolation for not being ginger.”

She’d assumed as much earlier with his intense attentions. “Orally fixated. Can’t say as I complain about that.”

“Throw that in with centuries of knowledge and, well, I’m a force to be reckoned with.”

He was indeed. But she really didn’t think his ego needed that much stroking at the moment.

“So, Sarah, what’s yours?”

“Scarves,” she said quickly.

“Scarves is a bit vague. Are we talking gauzy, dance of the seven veils type? Or bind me to the bed posts silk?”

Dear lord, he could turn a phrase, couldn’t he. And she really, really had no objections to the latter one.

“Knit,” she said in the same rushed tone as before, unable to meet his eyes.

“What’s this now?” He released her hand to lift her chin. “Knit scarves, you say? As in the tasseled, long enough to have made several sweaters variety?”

“Yes.” Her cheeks grew warmer.

“And here I always thought you were staring at them in the ‘Dear lord, those are the most impractical things ever’-way, not the ‘What can I do to get him to use them on me’ way.”

Which is exactly what went through her head on far too many occasions. She would have welcomed an alien invasion at the moment.

“So you liked my scarves, Sarah Jane?” He wasn’t just slightly rude and orally fixated this regeneration, he was a cheeky bastard.

“Yes, I did,” she repeated, burying her face in his chest.

“I still have most of them lying about the wardrobe. Any particular one you fancied? Or was it just the general style?”

Of course, he wouldn’t just let it go.

But, then, she couldn’t just keep her mouth shut either. “As long as they were yours, it didn’t matter.”

She felt his lips press lightly against the crown of her head. “I really was a fool back then. I’m sorry, Sarah.”

She shrugged. “Probably for the best anyway. It would have made a right mess of things if we’d done this back then.”

The silence stretched out for a few moments before the Doctor replied, “I didn’t want to lose you.” He said it so quietly, she wasn’t sure she heard him right.

She shifted to look at him again. “Come again?”

“That’s why I kept from taking things further back then. I cared too much to risk losing you if things went south.” After a moment, he added, “And I was a coward. I was so very fond of you as it was that I was afraid that if I explored a physical relationship with you, well, I’d never be able to let you go. As it was, leaving you in South Croyden that day—”

“Aberdeen,” she corrected automatically.

That earned her a faint smile. “Leaving you in Aberdeen, well, it’s the second most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do.”

The admission floored her. She had a pretty good idea what the most difficult thing was, but . . . “I don’t know what to say, Doctor.”

“Nothing,” he said, cupping her face. “I just thought you had a right to know that things weren’t perhaps as one-sided as you’ve felt all these years.”

“I never thought they were,” she assured him, remembering their conversation in the café while tinkering with K-9. “I knew you cared, but, well, you’re the Doctor, things are a bit different for you, aren’t they?”

“Yes and no.” He was quiet for a moment. “And the whole reason for never seeing you wasn’t just the whole my lifetime outlasts yours, but . . . I couldn’t have stood to have seen that’d you’d moved on. I wanted you to. I just didn’t want to see it.”

It didn’t make everything better, but a lot of that was her fault. Still, what he’d just admitted was more than she’d ever hoped for.

“Thank you, Doctor,” she said finally.

“No, Sarah, thank you,” he said. “For everything.”

For just a moment, she could have sworn she saw every bit of him that ever was and ever would be. And in all the time that had passed, he’d never forgotten her. Never would, she could see. Not that he ever forgot any of them. Still, it was nice to know. Very nice.

“I wish you could’ve come with me,” he broke her reverie.

She smiled sadly. “So do I.” Then to lighten the mood, she added, “Though it’s probably all for the best, considering how much trouble I attract on my own now. We’d never be able to get anywhere.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he mused. “I think there’s a point where you attract so much trouble that if you attract more, it doesn’t really make a difference. More becomes negligible. As a matter of fact, I believe that’s what Einstein was attempting to figure out when he stumbled upon the Theory of Relativity.”

Sarah scanned his face for any hint that he was joking, but she never could tell. “I don’t think I’m even going to ask,” she decided.

“No, Relativity came about from his mother’s cookie recipe. The trouble equation led to—”

She cut him off with a quick, distracting kiss.

He blinked at her when she pulled back. “There you go again, being rude, Sarah Jane.”

“I’m sorry,” she said innocently, “you weren’t finished?”

“You know very well I wasn’t.” He eyed her speculatively. “I have a good mind to teach you some manners before I leave.”

“Do you, now, Doctor,” she purred.

“Oh, now that decides it.” He rolled them so he was hovering over her. “Which means I’ll have to pop in every so often to make certain you don’t backslide.”

Sarah Jane’s breath caught at that. The words and tone was jovial enough, but underneath it all was the sense that he wasn’t joking about stopping back.

The levity went away the next moment, confirming her suspicions. “Would you mind if I did that? Stopped by again?”

She ran her hand through the soft, wild strands of his hair to buy herself time to think. Of course she didn’t mind. It was what she’d been hoping for for years. There were no guarantees that she really would ever see him again, but the fact that he put it out there at all said a lot.

“I think I’d like that, Doctor.” Then she added, to keep things from getting too somber, “Only under one condition.”

“What is that?”

“That you bring one of your old scarves next time.”


End file.
